The Family You Choose
by Katsuko1978
Summary: As the war intensifies, there are still reminders of just what the Autobots are fighting for. 2007 movie-verse with some G1 guest stars, very much AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro**  
Summary: ** As the war intensifies, there are still reminders of just what the Autobots are fighting for.**

* * *

****The Family You Choose**

The fighting was worsening all the time, even more so now that the All Spark had been hidden in the hopes that the Decepticon forces wouldn't be able to track it. That seemed to be little more than a pipe dream, however, given how much effort Megatron was putting into locating it. The days of peaceful negotiations on Cybertron were long gone, and it was sometimes difficult to believe that he'd ever been something other than a medic.

Especially in moments when the fighting moved on and they were left to pick through the rubble in hopes of finding survivors.

It was probably a hopeless cause, to be frank. The past few dozen hits to cities like Altihex had left no mech or femme alive for much longer than a few dozen breems, and the news those few had passed along before deactivation was grim: 'cons stealing away younglings and sparklings alike, and rumours that those taken were given immediate adult upgrades and protocols. Who knew just how many of those innocents had been involved in subsequent raids, their young processors twisted with Decepticon hate-speech and unaware that they'd had their lives ripped away from them before they ever had a chance to live?

Ratchet shook his head to clear out those thoughts and began scanning the area, absently noting that the few other medically-inclined mechs in the unit were doing likewise. Even if they located anyone still alive in the mess of destroyed buildings, there was only a slim chance that they would survive transit to one of the few safe zones left on Cybertron—

And that was a weak energy spike on his HUD. The medic stopped walking and swept his scanners back through the remains of the room he'd entered while lost in his thoughts. The spike came again, still weak and very small; if he didn't know better, he'd almost think it was a sparkling's signature. That was impossible, though, given that the Decepticons had been ensuring that no one under adulthood was left behind in their strikes. Ratchet scanned one more time, detecting a cooling heat source close to the energy source and surmising that maybe, just for once, that the 'cons _had_ missed someone on their way out.

He sent a quick data burst of his current position to the others, receiving an immediate reply from First Aid even as he began clearing away the debris around the energy and heat sources. The younger medbot joined him moments later and assisted in the task. Between the two of them they quickly uncovered the battered form of what appeared to be a seeker femme, Decepticon insignias prominently displayed on her wings and plating rapidly growing cold. A broken support beam was lodged in her back, between said wings and had likely pierced her spark casing.

"Looks like the building came down on top of her," First Aid remarked quietly. "Probably dropped right into emergency stasis and deactivated less than a breem later."

"If she even survived that long," Ratchet added, frowning and doing another scan. He was still picking up a faint energy signal, and it seemed to be coming from the femme. "Aid, do a quick energy scan," he ordered abruptly.

The younger medic gave him a confused look but complied, optics flickering in surprise. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked softly.

Ratchet didn't reply, instead moving forward a bit and working to roll the femme's frame onto the side. As the cooling body shifted, he caught sight of a small white form wrapped securely in her arms; it was tucked close to her chassis and one hand had been rested on the sparkling's helm to keep it pressed against her. At first glance, one could almost make the assumption that the building had collapsed when the Decepticon had been trying to make off with the sparkling. But if that was the case, then why the protective hold? If they were both at risk, why wouldn't the 'con simply toss the sparkling aside and escape on her own, even though she would be punished for failure later?

"Give me a hand," he said quietly, keeping his tone low. With First Aid's assistance, the two medics loosened the femme's grasp on the sparkling enough for Ratchet to pull it free. Once he could get a closer look at the sparkling, Ratchet realized just _why_ the Decepticon had risked her life; the small nubs on its back were the closest any mech or femme so young would get to wings before the first full vorn of life was complete.

"A seeker sparkling," First Aid noted, optics flicking over to the femme's body and narrowing in thought. "So she was either trying to ensure it survived for the next 'con to pick up, or—"

"Or she was instinctively protecting her own sparkling," Ratchet finished, examining the tiny seeker he was holding. It was a mech, offline but still functioning, probably knocked into emergency stasis by the rubble crashing down on his creator. The sparkling probably hadn't been online for much longer than a quarter-vorn, around the time that the Prime ordered the All Spark moved to a secure location. Most likely, this sparkling had been the result of either a pair of bondmates attempting to spark a child or a split-spark; he would examine the sparkling further later to find out. For the moment, however, being out in the relative open was dangerous.

"I've radioed base camp," First Aid reported as he completed a scan of the rest of the building. "All other units have found no survivors. This little guy is all that's left of Altihex."

Ratchet nodded sharply, tucking the sparkling securely to him. "Let's go home," he said, feeling drained.

One survivor was better than none.

* * *

Just want to point out one thing: there are thus far no OCs aside from the unnamed femme. So three guesses on who else has thus far appeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro**  
****  
Measures of Time: **vorn = 83 years / breem = approx 10 minutes / orn = 14 days / joor = 6.5 hours

* * *

Nearly an orn passed by before Prowl appeared in the med bay, not as a patient but with the information that Ratchet had requested on any sparklings close to the age of the one found in Altihex. By all appearances, the sparkling was adapting well to the change in his surroundings, although it was clear he was most comfortable in Ratchet's presence; one of the younger front liners had made a joke about the sparkling thinking that the medic was his creator, but Prowl wondered if that wasn't too far from the truth. After all, the sparkling _was_ just over a quarter-vorn old, young enough still to imprint on another to replace his lost creator.

The tactician stepped through the doors to the med bay, sensors immediately picking up on the presence of three mechs: Ratchet, First Aid, and the still-nameless sparkling. The quiet chirps from said sparkling were a good indicator that he'd just slipped into recharge and would likely remain that way for at least the next ten breems. That would be one potential distraction out of the way for this conversation at the very least.

"Prowl," the CMO greeted with a slight nod. "You don't look damaged so I know the younglings haven't been up to their usual tricks."

Prowl allowed himself a slight smirk. Although most of the underground movement against the Decepticons consisted of fully-grown mechs and femmes, there were some younglings under their protection that intended to join the fighting once they'd reformatted to their adult protoforms. The three biggest trouble makers at the moment were a mech by the name of Bumblebee and a pair of twins called Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, all of whom seemed to think that Prowl was a viable pranking target. None of the pranks were harmful, and in all honesty the tactician didn't mind their youthful enthusiasm; he simply hoped it would be toned down by the time they upgraded, something that was only a few vorns off for Bumblebee.

"No, they're being unusually quiet for the time being," the SIC stated calmly. "It's too much to hope that Bumblebee is maturing with the twins' influencing him, but that's not why I'm here. Some of our Special Ops unit members managed to turn up the information you requested."

Ratchet shot a look to First Aid, who nodded briefly and excused himself. The CMO turned back to Prowl with a slight frown. "Why would Spec Ops be looking into sparklings around the Altihex area?" he asked shortly, tuning a few of his sensors to the sparkling he was slowly growing attached to.

"Mostly because a lot of information was lost with the destruction of the city and its databases," Prowl replied. "I asked Jazz to see about getting the records of any Decepticon activity prior to the attack, as well as to try locating the information you'd requested, and he turned up both." The tactician paused, deciding on how to word the findings. "It wasn't chance that the Decepticons raided Altihex. There were at least four sparklings in the city with Decepticon parentage, all under a quarter-vorn old."

It was obvious from the way Ratchet's optics flared for a moment that he was accessing the results of the examination he'd given the sparkling, trying to figure out the connection. "At least four Decepticons purposely sparked offspring and hid them away in Altihex?" he asked, although he didn't sound convinced of any pure intentions on the creators' parts.

"No," Prowl replied with a shake of his head. "From the records Jazz located, it seems that six 'cons – scientists, at that – purposely sparked offspring for experimental purposes. All four of the sparklings were noted to have some manner of advancement built into their processors that could easily be transferred to adult protoforms; apparently rather than add those enhancements to fully-developed mechs or femmes, it was decided to create the sparklings and allow their systems enough time to incorporate the advancements before upgrading them."

The medic heaved a sigh through his vents and rubbed at his optics, silently cursing the mechs and femmes that had implemented such a horrific plan. "What form of advancements?" he asked.

The tactician paused, letting his gaze fall to the recharging sparkling for a moment, wondering absently which of the three seekerlings was in their care. "The only non-seeker of the four, still an aerial-type, was designated Blitzwing. He was sparked by a bonded pair and given early triple-changer protocols. It wouldn't be noteworthy save for the fact that the sparkling was housing _two_ sparks."

"Wait. Two sparks housed in one frame? If the spark split—"

"From the records kept on the sparkling, it's clear that the idea was to create a triple-changer with two distinctive personalities; one personality to be in control of each individual alternate mode," Prowl explained. "There were notes that the personalities were beginning to develop fully and definitely had separate temperaments.

"The first of the three seekers was given the designation Sunstorm. That sparkling was also the result of a bonded pair, although in this case there were energy-conversion protocols added into his systems. From what we can gather, he's built to store and harness stellar energy; in my opinion he's the only one of the four that would benefit from an upgrade to an older protoform."

Ratchet nodded his agreement. "A sparkling is far too young to understand how to store that type of energy," he said. "I'm guessing that the plan is for this Sunstorm to use the radiation gathered from various-sized stars as his primary weapons systems. We'll have to keep an eye on those two when they turn up." At Prowl's questioning look, he added, "The sparkling we have here was the result of a split-spark."

"I see," the SIC replied, a feeling of relief momentarily sweeping through him; either of the two split-sparked ones was a preferable alternative to having a radioactive sparkling. "The second seeker sparkling was designated Starscream. It appears that he was given protocols for enhanced speed – I would guess that were he upgraded to an adult protoform he'd wind up being the fastest thing on Cybertron, ground-bound or aerial-build. Jazz found a secondary programming protocol as well; his processor was built to handle information at increased speeds as well. It's likely that not only would the Decepticons have an incredibly fast seeker in their ranks, even upgraded he would also be highly intelligent as well."

"Which would definitely be bad news for our cause," the medic mused aloud. "What of the final sparkling?"

"The final seeker sparkling was designated as Skywarp," Prowl said. "The records on him were no more reassuring than any of the others; from what Mirage dug up upon further searching is that this sparkling was given protocols eerily similar to the space bridge project that was abandoned when Polyhex fell."

"Are you telling me," Ratchet ground out, "that some half-clocked excuse for a scientist thought it was a _good_ idea to incorporate untested warp-gate technology into a _sparkling?!_"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Prowl confirmed, looking no more pleased with the idea than Ratchet. "The goal seems to be a mech capable of employing teleportation for reconnaissance missions or as a diversionary tactic on the battlefield."

Ratchet shook his head, snarling out several Cybertronian curses directed at the Decepticon scientists responsible for what was obviously a fledgling project. "Well, they're one scientist short with the deactivation of this one's creator," he finally said once he'd calmed somewhat, moving to the berth the sparkling rested on. "And given that they not only lost a scientist but one-fourth of the project, it's unlikely that Megatron will allow the research to continue... although I've little doubt that he'll have the three sparklings that were successfully retrieved upgraded immediately.

"And I don't doubt that there will be some instability in any of their personalities," the medic added almost as an afterthought. "Blitzwing is already unstable with two sparks; if it were to split again during the upgrading process there's no telling what the third personality would become. Sunstorm is going to spend his entire lifetime trying to keep a firm hold on his energy stores to keep from irradiating his own faction. And it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the use of the teleportation technology causes gradual damage to Skywarp's central processor."

"So this one is—"

Ratchet nodded. "Starscream, yes. I had been wondering about why a sparkling less than a quarter-vorn old had the processor capacity of a half-vorn sparkling. Apparently in order to handle the increased speed, his creator—" the word was almost sneered, making the medic's opinion on the seeker femme who had split her spark to create Starscream quite clear "—had to increase the processor capacity to better handle the sensory input. Given time, he'll adapt easily to his enhancements and be more adjusted to them than the other three ever will."

"And if they had successfully retrieved Starscream?" Prowl asked, glancing at the recharging sparkling.

"Then we also would have to be on the lookout for an incredibly fast seeker with a superiority complex," Ratchet replied, absently running a hand over Starscream's helm. "Any mech with that much processor power would think himself better than all those around him if not given time to grow properly."

The tactician looked amused. "So we'll eventually wind up with an incredibly fast seeker who just happens to be incredibly smart?" he queried.

Ratchet snorted. "Not for another fifty vorns, at least," he said. "Although it does leave one problem: how do you keep such a sparkling out of trouble once he gains mobility?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro**  
****  
Measures of Time: **vorn = 83 years / breem = approx 10 minutes / orn = 14 days / joor = 6.5 hours

**Note: **There's a bit of a time skip this section, with a bit of allusion to past events. Eventually I may go back and write them out as side stories, but for now it's more fun to imagine what happened!

* * *

If there was one thing that Sunstreaker really hated about having another five vorns to go before his adult upgrade, it was the fact that he and his twin were often saddled with sparkling-sitting duty. Granted, on occasion Bumblebee joined them, even though _he_ was an adult now and didn't _have_ to keep watch over the little pitspawn, but it still annoyed the youngling.

There was only one time that the three mechs had argued the task, back a couple vorns before Bee's upgrade. Their displeasure was expressed with the most elaborate prank Sideswipe had come up with to date, and it took a good thirty joors to clean up the mess afterward; unfortunately they had neglected to keep an optic on Starscream while they were setting up the whole thing, and the little slagger had managed to wander into one of the labs and could have been hurt if Skyfire hadn't grabbed him up before something could happen.

Ratchet had been less than pleased. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Bumblebee had spent a good forty breems welded to the ceiling of the common room for their prank, much to the amusement of the older mechs and one very curious sparkling. Sunstreaker had the feeling that the scraplet was going to ask Ratchet to teach him that the breem he was old enough to hold and operate a welding torch.

The gold-toned youngling stole a glance up from the datapad he was pretending to read – if only for the sake of blocking out Sideswipe's mutterings as the red mech watched the monitors – to see what said scraplet was up to. Unsurprisingly, the thirty-vorn-old sparkling was immersed in a datapad of his own; most likely it was one of the types generally given to sparklings of forty vorns, but Starscream wasn't a typical sparkling.

In general, the average sparkling gained mobility around the fifth vorn, started attempts at speech somewhere around the twelfth, and began learning to identify words at the fifteenth. Starscream had gone straight from crawling at the fifth vorn to running the minute he was on his feet, and flying when he realized what, exactly, his thrusters were for somewhere around his sixth vorn. The usual chirps and chirrs of sparklings began resembling actual speech before he was in his tenth vorn, and he'd shown an unusual comprehension for reading when most sparklings were still learning to communicate clearly. It wasn't a huge surprise that Starscream had long grown bored with datapads for his age group, especially since Ratchet had no qualms about tossing the scraplet his own medical datapads from time to time. Most of the mechs suspected that Starscream just liked looking at the charts and diagrams even if he didn't understand what he was looking at. Yet.

Given how much time the sparkling spent either in the med bay or labs, Sunstreaker wouldn't be surprised if the little slagger wound up following in his adoptive creator's pede imprints.

His twin's voice drew him out of his thoughts: "Sunny, come here an astrosecond, would you?" Sideswipe's tone was even, but there was tension bleeding through their twin-bond. His attention was still focused on the monitor, although his optics had narrowed slightly in concentration.

"What's up, Sides?" Sunstreaker asked as he set aside his datapad and crossed the room, glancing at Starscream as he did so and finding that the sparkling was watching the twins curiously. He paused for a moment before scooping up the seekerling and tucking him against his frame.

"There should only be about a handful of us on base right now, yeah?" the red mech asked, looking up at his brother with a faint frown. At Sunstreaker's nod, he added, "And none of us have clearance to be anywhere near the labs since Jack managed to cause a minor explosion last time it was just us younglings and Big Red. So," he tapped the monitor and pulled up a thermal grid of Skyfire's lab, "why's there a big heat signature when Sky's out with Prime's crew?"

The gold mech tensed, his own optics narrowing as he watched the monitor, and opened up a comm link with the only adult on base. _'Hey, big brother. Sides just picked up a thermal hit in Skyfire's lab.'_

There was a moment of silence before Red Alert's reply came, not on the private channel between the three brothers but on the common channel: _'Younglings, I need you to report to the common room and set up the disrupter field. There's a security breech in the lab area, and __**none**__ of the alarms went off.'_ Switching over to a private channel with his brothers he added, _'Get to the med bay, now. The three of you are too close to the labs to make it any further than that.'_

_'Be careful, Big Red,'_ Sideswipe replied as he cut off the monitor. Standing, he held out his hands and Sunstreaker quickly handed the sparkling over; of the two of them, Sunstreaker's reflexes were an astrosecond faster while Sideswipe could run just a little quicker than his twin. If they ran into Skywarp and whoever else might have teleported in with him, the older brother could try to hold them off while the younger fled for safety. Decepticons were bad news, but neither of the twins wanted to be the one to tell the medic if something happened to his sparkling.

Starscream didn't utter a sound, which was a good indicator that he realized something was wrong and that it was best to follow the younglings' lead. Sunstreaker silently amended his opinion of the scraplet from _annoying pain in the aft_ to _thankfully too smart for his own good_; any other sparkling his age would be fussing over the abrupt handling the twins had subjected him to, but the seekerling's vocalizer was quiet and his red optics dimmed slightly to make himself less noticeable as the twins slipped into the darkened hallway and began to make their way to the med bay.

_'Hold up!'_ Red Alert's voice came over Sunstreaker's comm, and the youngling stopped just before he would have rounded the corner._'_ _I've got visual confirmation; our uninvited guests are Skywarp and Thundercracker. Take the back route to Ratchet's office and lock yourselves in. Prowl and half of Spec Ops are on their way back now.'_

Sunstreaker turned and waved for Sideswipe to head back the way they'd come, even though the other was already moving. _'How're the others?'_ he asked as he fell in step behind his twin, keeping himself between the younger mechs and the potential threat.

_'Already in the common room, and Wheeljack cut on the disrupter field not half a breem ago. I'm heading your way now to lock off the sector,'_ the older mech replied.

_'Understood.'_

It wasn't a perfect plan, but hopefully Red could keep the two seekers from escaping before Prowl and the others arrived. Skywarp had been flagged as a possible risk shortly after Starscream's arrival, but Thundercracker had been an unknown factor until he appeared on the battlefield. He'd unleashed a concussive attack that left most of their soldiers shaken, not a few with damage to their audios, and once everyone had returned to base camp the Ops team had started going through the archives for all cities decimated by the Decepticons prior to the Altihex attack.

Apparently sparklings hadn't been the only test subjects, as Jazz had turned up records of experiments being run on younglings in Kalis. Only one youngling had survived the process, being given sound-based weaponry greatly different than the sonics they'd grown to expect from Megatron's chosen second. Add in that apparently they'd upgraded the youngling's speed somewhat with the adult protoform, and Thundercracker was proving to be a worrisome enemy.

What was more pressing at the moment, however, was the fact that two of the three Decepticon seekers were in the underground's base with a half dozen younglings and only one adult to protect them.

The twins slipped quickly into the med bay, making their way to the CMO's office and closing the door behind them. Sunstreaker had only just inputted the locking code when he saw the main door slide open once more, and he ducked out of sight just as the seekers swept into the med bay. He glanced over at his brother and signaled for him to remain quiet and out of sight; Sideswipe gave a nod and tucked Starscream closer to him, shifting his body to further shield the sparkling from view. The seekerling powered down his optics and clung to the red mech's armour, sensing his sitters' nervousness.

"What the slag does the Lord Protector want with some sparkling anyways?" Skywarp was saying quietly, vents cycling in annoyance.

"No idea," Thundercracker replied coolly, scanning the area and frowning darkly. "Probably something to do with the Altihex experiments, maybe a missing test subject."

The twins exchanged a worried look, Sideswipe tapping lightly on Starscream's helm. After all the time that had passed, everyone had assumed that the Decepticons had given up the 'missing' sparkling for deactivated. Apparently they had been mistaken, or one of Megatron's spies had found out about the seekerling in their care.

"It's still just a scraplet," the teleporter argued. "What good is a whiney little sparkling going to do the cause?"

"We'll see once he's upgraded," came the annoyed response. "Now, be quiet and keep looking. They aren't keeping him in the labs so he's got to be in here somewhere."

Sunstreaker could hear the pair getting closer to the office and ducked down as much as he could, looking towards his twin and noting that Sideswipe was slowly and carefully moving towards Ratchet's desk. With any luck, he would be able to at least tuck Starscream out of sight before the seekers got to them. Even with the disrupter field up, that only meant Skywarp couldn't pull his teleportation trick; there was nothing to stop them from hacking the codes and entering the office through the door.

"Check the office," Thundercracker demanded as he moved towards the isolation ward. The only sound for a moment was the metallic clang of a large mech walking away from the office; then there was a second set of pedefalls heading towards the door.

"Something's keeping me from 'porting in," Skywarp reported; Sunstreaker cursed silently and shuffled away from the door as quickly as possible while remaining low to the ground. Sideswipe had made it to the desk and ensconced both the sparkling and himself beneath it, so the only one still potentially exposed was the older twin. In a way, Sunstreaker was glad for it; if the seekers got in he might be able to convince them that he was alone in the office.

Thundercracker's pedefalls resounded through the quiet of the med bay. "Interesting," he mused. "I think we may have found what we're looking for. Keep watch, I'll see about breaking through the locking codes."

_'Red, the seekers are in the med bay!'_ Sunstreaker hissed over the comm link with his elder brother. _'Sides is hiding with Screamer, but they're outside the office __**right now!**__'_

_'Stay calm. We're heading your way.'_

"Yeah, right," the youngling muttered softly to himself. "Calm."

"Psst!"

Sunstreaker startled slightly, despite never coming out of his crouch, and swung his gaze back towards the desk. Sideswipe was hidden completely from sight, but Starscream was peering out around the side, optics on low power. Satisfied that he'd gotten the gold twin's attention, the sparkling pointed to the wall over Sunstreaker's head before ducking back out of sight. The youngling glanced up to see that he was just below one of the spare welding torches that Ratchet kept on hand for emergencies.

_I don't know how the slag to use one of these things,_ Sunstreaker thought to himself even as he pulled it from the shelf and ducked back down. There was a bit of weight behind it, so maybe it could act as a blunt object if he—

The youngling inched back towards the door, makeshift weapon in hand, and crouched just to the side of it. He could feel Sideswipe's confusion over their twin-bond, but sent a brief sensation of calm back to him. The locking mechanism disengaged and the door slid open, allowing the massive seeker to step into the office.

Sunstreaker didn't give him an opportunity to get near the desk; the instant Thundercracker was inside the youngling swung the welding torch around, connecting with the bend joint of one of his legs with enough force to knock the older mech off balance. The seeker crashed to the floor with a startled cry. The moment he was down, Sunstreaker hopped on his chest and resumed swinging his chosen weapon, striving to take out communications and weapons systems and – most importantly – keep the mech from getting back on his feet. It was no easy task, as for every blow the youngling delivered the adult made a grab for him, but Sunstreaker was determined that _no one_ was getting near his little brothers.

The sound of weapons-fire in the hallway distracted him for a fraction of an astrosecond, and it proved long enough for Thundercracker to knock the youngling off of him. Sunstreaker hit the floor with a grunt, dropping the welding torch and managing to roll back to his feet. The seeker was standing once again, but had turned his attention back to his wingmate. "Skywarp, what the pit is going on out there?!"

"Company, and lots of it!" the teleporter replied, jumping back from the door nimbly to meet the other seeker in the middle of the repair bay. "The fragging SIC and about a dozen soldiers. We can't fight all of them."

"Abort mission," Thundercracker snarled, wrapping his arms around the other seeker. "Get us out of here." Just as Prowl, Red Alert, and a group of fighters that Sunstreaker didn't recognize rushed through the med bay doors, the Decepticon seekers teleported out in a burst of displaced air.

The second-in-command didn't relax immediately, scanning the room for any more surprise visitors even as the twins and their charge stepped out of Ratchet's office. Red Alert noticed them immediately and made a beeline for them, resting a hand on Sunstreaker's shoulder and running a brief diagnostic scan on his brother. The small battalion still in the entryway shimmered out of existence to reveal Hound, holographic projector powering down and recessing back into his armour, as well as Jazz and Bumblebee.

"You three okay?" Jazz asked as he crossed the room, taking the sparkling from Sideswipe and patting his helm as Starscream settled against his armour.

"Yeah, a bit shaken though," the red twin replied, wrapping his arms around his midsection and leaning against Red Alert when his eldest brother pulled him close. "I was under the desk with the scraplet."

"Cosmetic damage, mostly," Sunstreaker said, wincing a bit as he felt something pop back into alignment in his shoulder. "I was doing fine until Thundercrackhead threw me halfway across the room. Ow!" he added as Red Alert smacked him across the back of his helm.

"Didn't I tell you to lock the door and stay out of sight?" he demanded, the small horns on his helm sparking for a moment as he pictured all the things that could have happened to the younger mech.

"Hey, the slagger got the door unlocked!" Sunstreaker said defensively. "I wasn't about to let him get near the desk! So I, uh," he rubbed the sore spot on his helm and flicked his optics off to one side, "sort of maybe tried to beat the scrap out of him with one of the Hatchet's welding torches."

"That explains all the dents and cracks in his armour," Prowl noted, finally dropping his guard a bit. "But what I want to know is how you managed it. On the battlefield we can barely get a hit on him, but a youngling with a welding torch managed to pin him down long enough to do some damage."

"Not ground-bound," the seekerling murmured drowsily from his spot in Jazz's arms. The saboteur shifted his hold for a moment to look more directly at the sparkling, making a questioning sound. Starscream huffed in mild annoyance and added, "Don't like ground."

Sideswipe's optics brightened as he managed to decipher the broken grammar. "I get it! Seekers prefer to be airborne, not on their pedes. Even Screamy there spends more time using his thrusters to get around rather than walking, although Hatchet makes him do it anyways."

Hound nodded his agreement. "He's right. I've never seen a seeker on the ground for more than a few astroseconds at a time, never more than a quarter-breem. They land, shoot, and take off again."

Jazz tucked the sparkling back against him, smiling slightly as he felt rather than heard the little mech drift into a light recharge. "So now we know how to handle the seekers: get 'em on the ground and keep 'em on the ground."

Sunstreaker tuned out the adults as they began to discuss how to implement such a plan and who was going to suggest it to Prime. He let his optics fall on Starscream and let the faintest smile touch his lips. The little slagger could have easily been seen by the adult seekers, but he'd still taken the chance just to point out a means of fighting back to Sunstreaker.

Maybe the scraplet wasn't so bad after all.

_'When we upgrade, I want a jetpack,'_ Sideswipe whispered conspiratorially to his twin over their private channel. _'Then I'll wrestle the slaggers out of the sky and you can keep them down.'_

Sunstreaker's faint smile turned into a full-blown smirk. He could barely wait to lay into a seeker again, and five vorns wouldn't seem so long while the twins perfected their technique before implementing it in battle.

_'And we make sure Screamer can defend himself on the ground,'_ he added. _'Just because we're bringing down their seekers doesn't mean they'll get a chance to bring down ours.'_

* * *

**End Note:** Yep, I'm talking about Jet Judo there at the end. And yep again, Starscream may wind up practicing a variation of it in the sense of the jet being able to bring down mechs larger than him because his older brothers want to keep him safe.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro**  
****  
Measures of Time: **vorn = 83 years / breem = approx 10 minutes / orn = 14 days / joor = 6.5 hours

**Note:** This chapter, like the previous one, contains a bit of a time skip. Let's just say that not much more in the way of excitement happened during the sparkling years; Starscream is now approximately 120 vorns old and hasn't been in the youngling stage for terribly long.

**

* * *

**  
"They don't like me."

It was the matter-of-fact tone in which his youngling spoke that drew Ratchet's attention, and he looked over from where he was taking inventory. Starscream's reformatting had gone well (even if the medic wasn't terribly pleased by how quickly the twins had dragged the seeker off to begin 'training' him in that fragging Jet Judo or whatever they were calling their tactic of literally wrestling the Decepticon seekers out of the sky) and the sparkling frame had adjusted quickly to the youngling armour upgrades as well as the alterations Ratchet had made to the basic seeker-build. The white of his armour was slowly taking on a silver cast, and if one looked closely they would be able to see that some dull pink accenting was beginning to appear in spots as well; chances were good that the pink would eventually darken to a burnished red.

By all rights, Starscream was well-adjusted for growing up in a war zone. Therefore comments like the one he'd just made set off a warning light somewhere in his adoptive creator's processor.

"Who doesn't like you, Star?" Ratchet asked, setting aside the datapad he was working on and crossing over to where the youngling was seated on a berth with his own datapad. Starscream blinked up at the taller mech, red optics oddly flat for once. Usually it was easy to tell how the seeker was feeling just by looking at his optics; everything was easily reflected in his gaze, and it no longer startled the base's inhabitants to see warmth and affection and laughter shining behind a colour other than blue.

After a moment, the youngling huffed a sigh through his vents. "That triad that came in from Tarn," he said, tone still even but a flicker of distress lighting his optics for a moment. "They keep looking at me like they expect me to bite them or something."

Ratchet quickly ran through the short list of mechs who had arrived recently and growled low in his vocalizer. He could understand the hesitation and distrust shown by Cliffjumper (who hated nearly everyone and had even accused _Mirage_ of all mechs of being a Decepticon spy) and Bluestreak (whose city had been decimated by the seeker trine when he wasn't much older than a sparkling himself), but Ironhide had no excuses so far as the medic was concerned. If he was correct in his assessment, the weapons specialist was ignoring that the seeker acted _nothing_ like the enemy and reacting as if someone had let a prisoner wander around loose in the compound.

"They just don't know you," the medic said, trying to comfort his youngling even though what he _really_ wanted to do was go and have a 'conversation' with his friend involving words he didn't want Starscream to know yet. (Although considering that the seeker spent a good deal of his time with his 'brothers' the twin terrors, chances were he already knew some of the words Ratchet had a mind to use.) "Sometimes, mechs react unkindly to those they aren't familiar with."

"Streaker said that Cliffjumper is a half-clocked glitch and should be drop-kicked down one of the elevator shafts," Starscream replied, glancing up at the mech he considered his creator with something akin to a smile flitting across his faceplate for a moment.

"Sunstreaker says a lot of things he shouldn't around you," Ratchet sighed, making a mental note to talk to Red Alert about attempting to rein his brother in. "But, that was most likely his way of telling you to ignore Cliffjumper. Which is good advice, by the way. The same goes for Bluestreak and Ironhide, for the time being. Try not to let them get to you, and if they do—"

"Go to Streaker and Siders, or Bee, or Sky, or you," the seeker youngling finished with a slight nod. "I know. You've only told me a hundred times. It just... it bugs me that they look at me and their first thought is _Decepticon_, creator."

_This is __**really**__ bothering him,_ Ratchet thought, stepping forward and pulling Starscream into a comforting hug. The seeker rarely called him anything other than his designation, reverting to _creator_ only when distressed. A faint, unhappy chirp sounded from the youngling and the medic automatically responded with a soothing trill.

Back when he'd first found the seeker, Ratchet had intended to ensure the sparkling's health and turn him over to a mech or femme more capable of raising a sparkling. He realized almost too late that Starscream had imprinted on him as a replacement for his deactivated creator; by then, however, he was reluctant to entrust the sparkling to anyone else anyway. A scan of his systems revealed that a tentative creator/sparkling bond had already begun to form during the time that he'd been tending to the repairs Starscream had needed immediately if he was to survive, and it only took Ratchet's acknowledgment to cement it.

So far as his spark was concerned, Starscream was _his_ creation, no matter what his true origins may be.

And if Ratchet had to go knock some sense into his best friend's head because of it, he would do so gladly.

Starscream finally seemed to calm, and Ratchet pulled away to stand just as he heard pedefalls in the hallway outside the repair bay. It sounded like three mechs, two of whom were trying to go slowly while the third was intent on rushing them along. The door slid open to admit the twins, Sideswipe looking a little the worse for wear despite his broad smile and Sunstreaker singed and disgruntled, followed by Ironhide with a hand on each one's shoulder. Ratchet didn't miss the fact that Starscream's expression shuttered immediately upon sighting the large black mech, and he glanced towards his tools briefly.

"What did they do _this_ time?" he asked instead, giving both the smaller mechs a dark look that was returned by a brighter grin (Sideswipe) and a glare (Sunstreaker).

"Caught 'em both in the Delta quadrant taunting the seekers," Ironhide answered for them, giving the pair a shake and ignoring that Starscream was even in the room. "I had to drag 'em back because it didn't look like this one" – another shake for Sunstreaker – "had any plans of laying off Thundercracker till he was deactivated."

"Almost had the slagger offlined, too," the gold mech grumbled, drawing a snicker from his twin and a faint twitch of a smile from the seeker youngling.

Ratchet heaved a sigh and rubbed at his optics. "I'm not their creator, and they're obviously capable of walking, so repairs can wait. I need to speak with you, Ironhide. You two, report to Prowl and tell him _why _I'm sending you to him. Starscream," he added, turning and giving his youngling a warm smile, "you get to go tell Red what the twins were up to."

Sideswipe's grin vanished instantly and he shot a pleading look at Starscream. "Hey, Screamy? Think you can, I don't know, walk _slowly_ to Red? Please?"

Starscream smiled sweetly in reply as he hopped nimbly from his perch, walking casually to the door and pausing next to Sunstreaker. "I would get to Prowl quick if I were you. You shouldn't give him time to confer with Red, you know." The gold twin made a grab for the seeker, who yelped and darted off down the hallway. The twins immediately turned and bolted after him in an attempt to make it to their destination first. Ironhide watched the three as they went, optics narrowed and keeping the youngling in his sight at all times until he'd vanished around the corner.

"What is it you—" the mech started to say as he turned back around, only to cut his words short when something blunt and moving very fast collided with the side of his helm and knocked him off balance for a moment. Ironhide shook his head and glanced at the floor to see what had hit him, spotting one of the various wrenches that the medic kept on hand. "Slaggit, Ratch, what's your malfunction?"

Ratchet growled low in his vocalizer, picking up another tool and tapping it against his other hand. "_My_ malfunction? _My_ malfunction is I just spent over a breem in here with a very unhappy youngling, and that tends to put me in a foul mood."

Ironhide rubbed his helm, wincing slightly at the dent he felt there. "So? He'd just a 'con. He should be locked up like any of the other 'cons we capture." This time it was a spanner that made contact with Ironhide's head, clanging loudly before he even had time to duck.

"Do you pay _any_ attention?" Ratchet snapped, optics flashing in anger. "I know slagging well you got the reports from the Altihex mission just like Prime did. What _can't_ you understand about the only survivor being a sparkling? How that pit does one assign a faction to a _sparkling_, for Primus' sake?!"

"All seekers are 'cons," Ironhide growled in reply. "Everyone knows that."

"_That_ seeker isn't," the smaller mech snarled back. "_That_ seeker has never known _any_ faction but this one. _That _seeker frets every fragging time those two idiots you dragged in here go into battle because he worries that they won't come back. _That _seeker does everything he can to assist me when our mechs come in after a skirmish, even if it's just talking to those with less serious injuries.

"But the one thing I want you, _and_ your mechs, to keep in mind is this: _that_ seeker happens to be _my_ sparkling, and when he's not happy, _I'm_ not happy." A dangerous smile crossed Ratchet's face as he concluded, "And if _I'm_ not happy, _nobody's_ going to be happy. Now. Get out of my repair bay."

oOo

Ironhide was still grumbling to himself a joor later, annoyed by Ratchet's unfounded outburst and the general attitude that most of the mechs on base seemed to have towards his mechs. Most of them were polite enough, but Jazz acted as if they weren't in the room and Prowl kept shooting disappointed looks at Bluestreak.

He honestly didn't understand how they could just ignore the fact that a Decepticon – albeit a youngling, but a 'con all the same – had as much freedom around the base as any one of the underground.

"It's a sign of madness to talk to yourself," a voice spoke up to his left seemingly out of thin air; a moment later Mirage faded into view, yellow optics peering at the taller mech with mild disapproval.

"Yeah, well, no one around here seems to have any sense," Ironhide replied, frowning darkly.

Mirage's frame stiffened and his gaze sharpened. "Oh, we had the sense to move to a new base when our previous one was compromised vorns ago," he said evenly, only the faintest hint of his aristocratic upbringing coming through in his tone. "Especially once we learned that Skywarp can carry at least one other mech with him on a teleport."

The black mech raised one optic brow. He'd heard that the Iacon base had been compromised about ninety vorns ago, leading the group stationed there to relocate to their current base on the outskirts of Vos. No one discussed what had happened, only stating in reports that they had needed to move quickly to keep the Decepticons from achieving their objective.

"What was it that the 'cons were after in the first place?" Ironhide asked. Mirage blinked coolly before turning his optics towards the rec room; the larger mech followed his gaze and found himself looking at the silver-white youngling that was currently trying to wrestle an energon cube away from a laughing Arcee. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No," the blue and white mech said shortly. "Skywarp and Thundercracker teleported into the Iacon base with the intent to retrieve Starscream. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were the only ones with him at the time; he was only about thirty vorns then. None of us even wants to think about what they would have done to him if they'd succeeded in their mission. You've read the reports on the Altihex experiments, I trust?"

Ironhide's optics dimmed slightly as he accessed the reports, his fuel pump sinking a bit when he realized the implications. He might not be sympathetic towards the Decepticons on the whole, but even he wouldn't deny a mech the right to make his own choice; two-thirds of the seeker trine and the triple-changing lunatic had never been granted that luxury.

Mirage's faceplate shifted to a faint smile. "So you can understand why Red Alert gave the twins portions of that information; he may be somewhat paranoid, but no one can say that he keeps his brothers out of the loop. To hear Sideswipe tell the story, he kept Starscream hidden beneath Ratchet's desk until help arrived, although he admits to pulling the scraplet back once and to being confused as all-pit when his twin jumped one of the seekers; according to Sunstreaker, Star directed his attention to a make-shift weapon and he used it to take Thundercracker by surprise." The spy's optics dimmed for a moment as he mused, "I think Ratchet's still got that arch welder somewhere. Never could get all the dents out of it."

Ironhide stored away this new information, deciding to thoroughly process it later. "Is that why those two lunatics are so pit-bent and determined to take down the seekers whenever they're in a fight?" he asked.

"Yes," Mirage confirmed. "It was right around the same time that they started referring to Star as their little brother. All of us who've been around since he arrived are fond of him, but the twins love him. Why the slag do you think they're teaching him how to fight on the ground? They're scared to deactivation that one day, some Decepticon is going to drag him out of the sky during a battle and do some major damage to him. At least this way, they know he can hold his own. I don't think Ratchet is pleased with it, but it's not like we can keep Star locked inside forever. Seekers gotta fly, even seekers with ground-agility mods."

Ironhide made a non-committal sound and turned his attention back to the rec room. The impromptu wrestling match had ended with Arcee victorious, but there appeared to be no hard feelings as the youngling leaned on the table and chatted with the scout. They were joined in short order by Wheeljack, the conversation turning towards more technical things that the weapons expert didn't understand.

He didn't notice when Mirage left, lost in his thoughts as he processed what he'd learned and what he was witnessing. It was starting to look like he owed Ratchet and his youngling a huge apology... and it was possible that he'd need to have a word with the mechs in his unit as well.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro  
**  
Measures of Time: **vorn = 83 years / breem = approx 10 minutes / orn = 14 days / joor = 6.5 hours

**Note:** It's been... quite a while since I added anything, hasn't it? To be honest, I got a bit caught up in a couple other projects - one of those being getting back on track with the 28 meme ficbits and another being trying to pass Beginning Latin Level I - and shuffled TFYC to the back burner for a little while.

However, I had a certain red 'bot who is doing his damnedest to make me love him (and it's working) decide to speak up on certain things he would make every effort to keep away from a certain seeker. And wound up giving me a 2000-word chapter.

* * *

Cliffjumper huffed in annoyance and glared at the (_not a 'con if any of the Vos base longer-termers were to be believed_) seeker youngling that was currently picking his way through the rubble of a fallen tower for Primus only knew what. The only reason the red mech was even in the same region as the waste of metal at the moment was due to three facts: he was scheduled to patrol the sector with Blue and the twins this shift, said twins had gotten permission to let the seekerling tag along this cycle, and Ironhide had given express orders not to make too many waves since Ratchet (_and everyone else, it seemed_) reacted badly when the youngling was unhappy.

No more than a breem ago, a couple of unidentified signals had pinged their sensors. The quartet briefly conferred to debate on who would go check the locations and who would keep an optic on Starscream – the youngling hadn't received full sensor upgrades as yet and therefore was unaware of the potential threat – and decided that since Cliffjumper was the most heavily-armed that he should stay behind in case something slipped past any of the others. The smallest of the four mechs hardly thought that fair (_and what sensible bot __**wasn't**__ armed these days?_) but couldn't really argue the logic. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were lightly-armed melee fighters while Bluestreak was a sniper; they were the best-equipped to deal with a threat quickly and return before Starscream even realized there'd been a problem.

It didn't mean he had to like it, however, hence his dark gaze at the exploring youngling.

Still, it was almost fascinating, being able to observe the brat. The kid moved carefully through the rubble, moving aside pieces and examining one every so often before either tossing it aside or subspacing it for later. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the activity, and Cliffjumper half-suspected that the seekerling had just wanted to get out of the slagging base for a while; even _he_ got bored if he didn't get to look at the sky from time to time, and in the dozen orns since his team had arrived the little slagger had only been outside twice counting now. And if there was one thing Cliffjumper knew from watching the 'con seekers, it was that they spent most of their time in the sky. Starscream _walking_ everywhere was an oddity, but it seemed that he wasn't immune to the need to just be out in the open air for a while.

_'Bluestreak to field base,'_ the sniper commed on the patrol channel, interrupting the mech's thoughts. _'I don't see anything here. Although I really wouldn't expect to see anything, since this is pretty much a dead sector aside from our base, and why would Decepticons be looking for anything in Vos, anyway? I know it __**used**__ to be a pretty major city, but it's mostly destroyed now—'_

_'You heading back then?'_ Sunstreaker cut in over Bluestreak's ramble before it had a chance to build to a full monologue. _'I had a hit to my sensors again, no visual but I'm going to check it out before turning around.'_

_'Yeah, going now,'_ Bluestreak replied, not at all annoyed at having been interrupted. _'Shouldn't be half a breem.'_

_'Need some help checking, Sunny? I had a big nada over here like Blue,'_ Sideswipe asked.

Cliffjumper tuned the conversation out, doing a quick visual scan of the area and noting that Starscream had disappeared. For about an astrosecond he was annoyed that the little slagger had wandered off (_'con or not, doesn't he know there's a fragging __**war**__ going on?!_) before cutting on his ranged sensors. The instant he did two signals screamed to life on his grid – one from within the tower ruins and one directly behind him.

Before he could activate even one of his cannons a blow connected with his back, knocking Cliffjumper across the demolished street and into the rubble. He onlined his optics again as a hand grasped his neck and lifted him painfully, his fuel pump sinking when he recognized the intruder as Blitzwing. There weren't many mechs that had the ability to frighten Cliffjumper – what he lacked in size he more than made up in bravado – but those few that did were 'cons, and the only one that made his energon freeze in terror was the insane triple-changer. A bot never knew from one astrosecond to the next how the mech would act, his mood changing from clinical detachment to burning rage to psychotic glee without warning.

At the moment, it seemed the colder persona was in charge as Blitzwing peered at the minibot with mild disinterest. That didn't keep him from maintaining an almost-crushing grip on the smaller mech's neck nor did it stop him from pressing just a bit harder to pin him against a wall. "Lose something, little rebel?" the triple-changer asked almost conversationally, the look in his optics never wavering.

Even if he was terrified, Cliffjumper wasn't going to crumble easily. "What do you want, Decepticreep?"

"Just some information," Blitzwing replied, still displaying an almost clinical manner as he lifted one shoulder in a brief shrug. "A trifle, really. If you would be so kind as to give me the location of your base, the access codes to gain entry, and the whereabouts of a misplaced seeker, I may see fit to allow you to return to your fellow _soldiers_" – the word was sneered and for the briefest of moments the vengeful persona glared darkly at him before lapsing control back to the cold one – "either in one piece or with minimal damages."

Had it been any other Decepticon making this request, even Megatron himself, Cliffjumper may have been hard-pressed to say _no_. He was leery of a seeker in their ranks, even a youngling, no matter how atypically he acted when compared to others of his kind.

But with _this_ 'con asking the questions, the only thought that passed through his mind was the fact that Starscream was a _youngling_ and would likely have his mind splintered beyond repair if given over to the psychopath for however long it took to get to the Decepticon stronghold in Darkmount... _if_ Blitzwing even left immediately. Chances were good that the triple-changer would want to _play_ a little first, and the sort of activities the three distinct personae enjoyed weren't the type that a sane mech would subject a youngling of one-hundred twenty vorns to.

Cliffjumper's azure optics met the Decepticon's red ones, fear overshadowed by the sudden protectiveness he felt and the desire to spare at least one innocent in this war. "Rust in a scrap heap."

There was no warning; one moment Blitzwing was peering at the red mech with cold optics, the next he had torn Cliffjumper's right arm free from the socket and was tossing it aside with a snarl. "Wrong answer," the angry persona growled, tightening his hold on the other's neck. "Let's try this again, you little waste of space. Where's the youngling? And consider your answer _carefully_. You only have three limbs left, and then I'll start going for internals."

"You must be deaf as well as ugly," Cliffjumper replied, his words somewhat strained as his systems flared in agony. He ignored the pain, focusing all his attention to the decision he'd made to keep the youngling out of this Decepticon's grasp. It would probably be the deactivation of him, but with any luck Blue or the twins would make it back in time to keep the slagger from tracking down Starscream once done 'questioning' him.

Blitzwing's expression darkened and he grabbed Cliffjumper's left arm tightly. Before he could do more than tense his servos to tear the limb free, a hunk of metal collided with the side of his head, knocking the triple-changer off balance and forcing him to drop the rebel. Cliffjumper's optics darted towards the source of the flying rubble, spotting the seekerling just as he hurled another hunk of the tower at the Decepticon.

"Leave him alone!" Starscream hissed, glaring at the larger adult mech and crouching low to the ground; Cliffjumper recognized the move as one he had seen the 'con seeker trine do before they would launch themselves into the air after a brief landing. It seemed that Starscream planned to take to the sky if Blitzwing tried to come after him, and the small red mech sincerely hoped he would head straight for the base if he did. It was still a closely-guarded secret, and the youngling would be safe once he hit the perimeter.

_'Just __**go**__, kid,'_ he commed the youngling urgently. _'This fragger won't give up easily, I'm down to one weapon, and you're unarmed. Get out of here.'_

_'If I do, he'll offline you and Ratchet'll be torqued,'_ came the quick reply, the youngling's optics never leaving the 'con.

_'He'll be even __**more**__ torqued-off if you get yourself slagged! __**Now beat it!**__'_

Blitzwing was unaware of the conversation, his gaze locking onto the seekerling with that cool detachment once more overtaking his faceplate. "I would be willing to consider that option," the mech said evenly, the other two personae flickering across his expression briefly before he continued, "if _you_ concede to turn yourself over to the proper alliance. You are a seeker; ergo you should be a Decepticon by rights."

There wasn't an astrosecond of hesitation in the reply: "Go 'face yourself."

A furious growl slipped from the triple-changer's vocalizer and he lunged for the seekerling. Starscream had been expecting as much and launched himself into the air, passing over the mech's head and landing lightly on the opposite side of the street; he cast his optics to one side for only a moment to apparently search for another make-shift weapon, but it was just long enough for Blitzwing to act. The Decepticon rushed for the youngling again, catching him off guard and catching hold of one ankle as the mechling attempted to escape once again. Using Starscream's own momentum against him, the triple-changer whirled around and flung the youngling at a partially-collapsed wall a few meters away from where Cliffjumper was struggling to regain his footing.

As Starscream slumped to the ground, dazed from his collision with the wall, the triple-changer stalked over to him and pinned him in place with one clawed hand. The anger in his optics was replaced not with detachment but with a sort of gleeful interest; Cliffjumper noted the change in demeanor and clamored to his feet, slumping back against the wall as a wave of dizziness due to energon loss hit him. The 'con barely glanced over, a twisted smirk on his dermaplate as he immediately dismissed Cliffjumper as a possible threat to his plotting.

"Get your hands off him," the minibot snarled, only to receive another absently amused smirk in response.

"Why?" he asked, the slightly higher pitch in his tone indicating that the third – and possibly most dangerous – personality was in control now. "He's a seeker, right?" Blitzwing looked back at the dazed youngling and clicked his glossa against his teeth briefly. "And a very pretty seeker, too. _Much_ prettier than any of the trine," he added, his free hand tilting the youngling's face up before dropping to roam over the white mech's torso searchingly.

Cliffjumper snarled and tried to push away from the wall to no avail, too weak from the fluids leaking steadily from where his arm had been. "Stop!" he growled, horrified at what the other mech intended to do. "He's practically a _sparkling!_"

"Everyone has to grow up sometime," was the response, followed by a chilling laugh. The sound was cut off abruptly by the impact of a laser blast, knocking Blitzwing away from the youngling. Cliffjumper looked in the direction the bolt had come from, relief flooding his systems as he spotted a blank-face Bluestreak lining up his sights to fire off another shot if necessary; from the furious gleam in the sniper's optics, it seemed that he'd arrived just in time to see what the 'con had planned for the mechling.

"I'd strongly suggest you leave," Bluestreak said coolly, finger relaxed over the trigger as he lined up his next shot. "Because you have about a quarter-breem until that youngling's brothers get here, and if _they_ don't drop you, his creator _will_."

All three of the triple-changer's personae flickered briefly across his faceplate before settling on the detached primary. "This isn't over yet," he said before shifting to his flying alt mode and taking to the sky, barely clearing the ground before Sunstreaker screeched into view. Sideswipe was directly behind his twin, although where the gold twin fired a few shots after the retreating Decepticon the red one rushed over to the collapsed seekerling.

Only now did Cliffjumper relax, slipping back to the ground as the world around him grew dimmer. He could hear Blue and Sunstreaker trying to get his attention, but it sounded very far away. The minibot managed to glance over to make sure that Starscream was relatively unscathed before letting his systems slip into emergency stasis.

_Kid shouldn't have to deal with this slag,_ he thought just before he shut down. _We all gotta keep it away from him for as long as possible...._

_

* * *

_

**End Note:** This does _not_ mean that either CJ or Blue is suddenly going to be best buds with Star; it just means that at least Jumper is going to start thinking of Star in terms as a somewhat innocent bystander in the whole thing and will reserve passing judgment until the screaming one is of age. Until then, though, he's just a kid and the more people looking out for him to keep individuals like Blitzwing away from him, the better.


End file.
